Monday, October 11, 1999 Published at 13:49 GMT 14:49 UKEntertainmentElton's candle burns in CanadaSir Elton's tribute is a slow-burning success in CanadaFor a song about the fragility of human life, sales of Sir Elton John's tribute to Diana Princess of Wales, Candle In The Wind 1997, have proved remarkably robust - in Canada at least.

The single is enjoying a staggering 107th week in the Canadian Top 10, currently at number eight.

The song dominated the number one slot in the country for 45 weeks and was still in the top three some 17 months after its release.

Sir Elton singing at Westminster Abbey, September 1997

The continued chart success of the Sir Elton's song perhaps owes less to the sentimentality of Canadians, than to the size of the population.

With barely 30m people, a record requires only relatively modest sales to ensure a high chart placing.

In the UK the song, which Sir Elton performed at the Diana's funeral on 6 September 1997, became the fastest-selling record of all time.

The single grabbed the number one slot on the first day of its release, with more than 650,000 copies snapped up in 24 hours.

After just one week record shops had shifted more than 1.5m copies of the star's reworked tribute to Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe was the song's original heroine

In its 24 weeks in the British hit parade, five of which it spent at number one, the track notched up sales of more than 5m.

Around the world, upwards of 33m sales of the charity single were made, boosting the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to the tune of more than £20m.